Gervonta Davis vs. Shakur Stevenson Targeted, After Lomachenko Backs Out

Gervonta “Tank” Davis and his team are, apparently, targeting another high-end lightweight champion opponent after Vasiliy Lomachenko removed himself from consideration

In a statement passed along through Twitter/X by Lomachenko’s manager Egis Klimas, it was made clear that the three-division world champ and two-time Olympic gold medalist, who currently holds the IBF lightweight title, is not interested in a Tank Davis fight:

“Loma is not in the mood right now, he doesn’t have the motivation at the moment. He’s taking off, he wants to spend more time with the family. He doesn’t want to do anything till the end of the year. So he’s definitely not coming to the ring till the end of the year.

With Loma, just money is not what motivates him. He doesn’t take anything just because of money. You can offer him millions, tens of millions of dollars – if he doesn’t have motivation, he’s not ready to prepare for the fight.”

Reactions from fans and media were all over the place, divided (predictably) along partisan lines. Some went out of their way to be understanding and compassionate towards Lomachenko’s stated desire to step away from the sport for awhile. Others were harsh in judgment and quick to toss out the “duck” assessment– maybe the nastiest of boxing-jargon insults.

In a recent interview with YouTube channel Mill City Boxing, Davis co-trainer Kenny Ellis expressed his disdain for Lomachenko’s decision, which came just as the big fight was nearly in pre-planning stages.

“People wanna see that fight,” Ellis blasted. “Yesterday. They want to see it. Don’t need no five months. If he can’t find motivation it’s time to hang it up…Anything can happen, but it’ll be a mistake on [Lomachenko’s] behalf. If he fight anybody besides Tank they gonna boo the s**t out him. Give the fans what they want.

“[Lomachenko is] ducking. Straight duckin’…If he retires and we don’t get it then so be it.”

Whatever the case, Davis is now without a big-ticket pay-per-view dance partner and has to look elsewhere for a bankable foe.

He need not look too far.

WBC lightweight champ Shakur Stevenson is currently floating in limbo, a recent promotional free agent who also finds himself without a big-ticket opponent.

Stevenson was loosely tied to a bout with consensus no. 1 contender William Zepeda. However, recent comments from Zepeda’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya indicate that the Mexican battler’s team would maybe prefer not to deal with the skilled and stylistically difficult Stevenson.

Ellis is on board with the idea of a Tank vs. Shakur clash, but cautious optimism seems to be where his head is at right now.

“Hopefully Shakur won’t duck,” Ellis said. “People say Tank’s ducking Shakur. Let’s see.”

With Lomachenko and Zepeda apparently removed from the major fight scene at 135, not much else remains for Davis and Stevenson. Actually, there are no other real pay-per-view fight options for either unless they want to, maybe, venture up to junior welterweight.